Design Choices by Dave Eggers for A Hologram for The King

I have to admit that I had a bit of a come-to-Jesus moment when it came to the printing of McSweeney’s books. // Dave Eggers

Design choices for the printing of Hologram for the King were affected by aesthetics and good business. In the end, both converged into a beautiful book. It was on-budget and delivered a positive user experience in both in handling and reading of the book. As both the author and publisher of Hologram for a King Dave Eggers had his pick of printing houses and chose Thomson-Shore printers in Dexter, Michigan.

In an interview on NPR he described the path to this decision in a bit more detail and disclosed that the costs were managed by staying within the boundaries of what the company was set up to already and not asking for items which might incur extra costs. He never skimmed or walked away at the end with a book he wasn’t proud of. On the contrary, the book is beautiful. But the design phase was a journey in monitoring options. In order to use this

In order to use this printer, he opted to adjust the design and not incur added printing costs by asking for extras or holding to design options which may have led him to abandon Thomson Shore to print overseas.

Interview by the New Yorker
Order from Book Passages